HERMITAGE SCHOOLS Teachers union, board ratify 3-year contract

The contract dispute went to a strike, then to nonbinding arbitration before a settlement was reached.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Teachers in the Hermitage School District are getting annual average pay increases of just over $1,800 in a new three-year contract.
The pact, ratified by both the Hermitage Education Association (teachers union) and the school board Tuesday, is retroactive to July 1, 2001, which means the first year of the new agreement has already passed.
Negotiations began in January 2001, and the 165 teachers worked the entire 2001-02 school year without a new agreement. They went on strike for seven days in March to break the stalemate and the state Department of Education ordered them back into the classroom so Hermitage could complete 180 days of classroom instruction by June 15.
The issue was submitted to nonbinding arbitration after the strike, but the three-member panel of arbiters never got to the point of formally proposing a settlement plan.
Worked on agreement
Instead, Dr. William Caldwell of the American Arbitration Association, chairman of the panel, worked with the two sides to hammer out an agreement.
The school board was offering average annual wage increases of $1,600, while the teachers were seeking $2,200 a year.
Duane Piccirilli, school board president, said the final settlement was between those two figures, with teachers getting an average increase of $1,834 or 3.92 percent in the first year, $1,833 or 3.77 percent in the second and $1,833 or 3.63 percent in the third.
Those increases include the annual step increments built into the contract for teachers who have not yet reached their pay maximums, he said.
All coaching and other supplemental contracts will increase by the same percentages annually.
The pact will cost the district about $300,000 more each year.
Teachers agreed to put in one extra day for a total of 187 in the school year just ended, but will be required to put in only 186 days in each of the last two years of the contract.
Other details
Health insurance will remain the same, with the district picking up 100 percent. Vision, dental and life insurance coverage will remain the same, although the district's cost for those items will increase slightly.
In addition to their salaries, the school district pays about $6,900 per teacher per year for hospitalization, dental, vision and life insurance and about $2,300 per teacher per year for retirement, Social Security, workers' compensation and unemployment costs.
Piccirilli praised both the board and teacher bargaining teams "for the countless hours of time and effort they gave to resolve the contract."
The board voted 8-0 to ratify the pact; school Director Victor Ellenberger was absent.
Director James Lumpp wasn't there in person either, but was able to add his "yes" to the ratification vote via a telephone conference call.
Paul Estock, chief negotiator for the teachers, said after the meeting that his bargaining team had recommended acceptance of the pact and the union approved it by a margin of more than 2-1.